Bloomberg Talks · Nov 6, 2026
With Jason Robins, Co-Founder & CEO of DraftKings
DraftKings shares fell 26% to 29% after the company cut its 2027 earnings forecast and missed third-quarter estimates. Jason Robins, co-founder and CEO of DraftKings, told Bloomberg Talks host Tim Stenovec that the drop looks worse than the math behind it. Most of the $650 million to $700 million DraftKings spent on prediction markets this year was marketing, and this year's new customers are projected to generate $350 million of gross profit next year.
"We still will be able to pay back these cohorts in roughly four years." — Jason Robins
As DraftKings' co-founder, Jason set the prediction-markets strategy himself, and he is now the one defending the spending against a Supreme Court case that could ban sports-related prediction contracts outright.
The full segment is covered here so you can skip it.
Here are the 4 calls that matter.
Key Takeaways
Most of the $650 million to $700 million DraftKings spent on prediction markets went to marketing, not product
The figure ran well above DraftKings' original guidance of $200M–$300M
This year's acquired customers are projected to generate $350 million of gross profit next year
Even a Supreme Court loss leaves this year's cohorts paid back in about four years
Jason said rivals built only on prediction markets have no other business to fall back on
Midterm betting drew traffic, not trading volume
Only markets with real liquidity reflected genuine sentiment, Jason said
1. A $650M Marketing Bill
DraftKings had guided investors to expect $200 million to $300 million in prediction-markets spending this year. The actual bill came in well above that, which is what triggered the sell-off.
Most of the $650 million to $700 million went to marketing, not product
"Most of that was marketing investment to acquire customers." — Jason Robins
That spending bought customers the company expects to keep. The size of the number still caught investors off guard.
The spending figure gave investors sticker shock
"There was some sticker shock." — Jason Robins
Jason said the reaction echoes 2022 and 2023, when DraftKings absorbed heavy customer-acquisition losses in sports betting that later turned profitable.
